Rory Du Plessis
Biographic Data
| ID | 1249406 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Rory Du Plessis |
| GIVEN NAMES | Rory |
| FAMILY NAME | Du Plessis |
| SIGNATURE | DU PLESSIS R |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Pretoria |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8907-9891 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 15 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 15 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Remembering the patients on the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Fort England Psychiatric Hospital
In 2025, the Fort England Psychiatric Hospital celebrates its 150th anniversary and this marks it as the oldest South African psychiatric facility that is still in use today. Over its many years of existence, the hospital’s history and heritage has been synonymous with the careers of the appointed medical superintendents. Thus, the dominant heritage discourse of the hospital commemorates the achievements of the medical superintendents, but what i…
Male Patients Communicating Restored Mental Health by Their Facial Expressions and Gentlemanly Persona at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, 1890–1907
During the medical superintendence of Dr Thomas Duncan Greenlees at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, from 1890 to 1907, he was watchful of his patients’ appearances, facial expressions and conduct. Of particular interest, Greenlees would closely monitor the patients’ faces to identify if there were any involuntary expressions that were indicators of underlying emotional unease or mental distress. Greenlees thus regarded involuntary facial expressi…
The Racialised Diet Scales of Transvaal Prisons: Chinese and Indian Prisoner Resistance, 1901–1911
This article commences with an exploration of how the diet scales of the Transvaal \nprisons were underpinned by racial discrimination from 1901 to 1911: people of \ncolour received smaller varieties and quantities of food than white prisoners. To \nhighlight how the racialised diet scales were implemented as a punitive measure, \nthe article provides a discussion of how Chinese prisoners were placed on restricted \ndiets to make their imprisonme…
People with intellectual disability at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum: Humanizing Photographs, Stories and Narratives From the Casebooks, 1890-1920
In the medical literature of South Africa in the early twentieth century, Dr Thomas Duncan Greenlees published a dehumanized portrayal of people with intellectual disability (PWID) who were institutionalized at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum. To restore the humanity of the institutionalized patients, the asylum's casebooks provide a valuable resource. To this end, the article investigates the casebook entries and photographs to explore the humani…
The life stories and experiences of the children admitted to the Institute for Imbecile Children from 1895 to 1913
The article contributes a positive narrative to the identity and the history of South African children with intellectual disability living in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Tales of Female Sexuality and Scandal: Lauren Beukes’s “Princess” and Archived Asylum Texts
In the short story “Princess” (Slipping: Stories, Essays and Other Writing. San Francisco: Tachyon, 2016), Lauren Beukes presents a tale of a princess who discovers her clitoris. Subsequent to this discovery, the princess's sexuality rapidly develops to encompass the pleasures derived from autoeroticism, as well as the sexual acts performed by her handmaid. Yet, the princess's sexual pleasure is only one part of the story. The other part is how s…
Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer, School Photos in Liquid Time: Reframing Difference
Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer, School Photos in Liquid Time: Reframing Difference (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2020), 264 pp, ISBN 978-0295746548. In the path-breaking book School Photos in Liquid Time, Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer provide a novel study of school photographs. Unlike family photo albums and archived photographic records, school photographs have received minimal scholarly interest (p. 26). To this end, the book is…
Battleground
Michael Godby has over several decades published an extensive array of journal articles and curated exhibitions that have contributed significantly to the debates and discourses of South African art and photography. Battleground is a testament to Godby’s fluent mastery of the history, discourses and art of colonial South Africa
Beyond a clinical narrative: Casebook photographs from the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, c. 1890s
In this article, I argue that casebook photographs of the mentally ill can potentially move beyond a record of a clinical case, to bring into view an understanding of patients as individual subjects. My argument is based on an exploration of three selected photographs from the casebooks of the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, circa 1890s. Unlike the standard trope of casebook photographs – uniform mugshots that are archetypal images of classification,…
Off the Beaten Path: Violence, Women and Art
Over several years of lecturing in courses on gender studies, feminism and sexuality, I am always astounded by students' responses to the lectures. In general, the students share a postfeminist sentiment towards the lectures (Gill 2007). The responses from the male students follow the standard 'crisis of masculinity' rhetoric in which feminism is blamed for the problems, pains and quandaries of contemporary living. However, even more perturbing i…
Photographs from the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, South Africa, 1890-1907
This essay investigates photographs taken at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum during the superintendence of Dr Thomas Duncan Greenlees, from 1890 to 1907. It examines two specific sets of photographs: first, the photographs taken for public consumption, and, second, the casebook photographs of the patients. I argue that the photographs produced for public consumption ascribe to the broader public image of the asylum. Greenlees constructed a public …
Unisa ‘Staff/Stuff’ Art Exhibition
The Unisa 'Staff/Stuff' Art Exhibition took place from 19 June to 6 July 2012 at the new premises of the Unisa Art Gallery in the Kgorong building. The exhibition commendably showcased the fine artists associated with Unisa's Department of Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology. The artists included, amongst others, Lisa Allen, Celia de Villiers, Frikkie Eksteen, Lawrence Lemaoana, Nathani Lüneburg, Gwen Miller, Bongani Mkhonza, Justice Mokoena,…
Constructing patient–psychiatrist relations in psychiatric hospitals: The role of space and personal action
This essay investigates the role of space and personal action in the construction of patient–psychiatrist relations at psychiatric hospitals. In order to explore such a theme, the writings of R.D. Laing prove to be salutary. This is namely accredited to Laing's tenet that the staff and patients of a psychiatric hospital are institutionalised by both physical structures and personal action. A central approach taken in this essay is to explore Lain…
The influence of moral therapy on the landscape design of lunatic asylums built in the nineteenth century
There is a need to diminish the dominance of the panopticon as a model for investigating the design of nineteenth-century lunatic asylums. In particular, this need is justified by a number of theorists who argue that the ‘panopticon principles’ of observation and seclusion were not significant tenets of asylum design and visual culture. Instead, there was an emphasis on deliberately overcoming such aspects in favour of bringing patients together …
Engendered Representations: Exploring Sexuality through Symbols and Myths
This article reflects the findings of a project that was conducted by the Institute for Women s and Gender Studies at the University of Pretoria. In particular, the project sought to dialogue with religious and cultural leaders on the taboos, myths and misconceptions of human sexuality.The article provides an analysis of the symbols and myths of sexuality that were presented by these leaders.These symbols and myths were demystif ed to reveal thei…
Photographs from the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, South Africa, 1890-1907
This essay investigates photographs taken at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum during the superintendence of Dr Thomas Duncan Greenlees, from 1890 to 1907. It examines two specific sets of photographs: first, the photographs taken for public consumption, and, second, the casebook photographs of the patients. I argue that the photographs produced for public consumption ascribe to the broader public image of the asylum. Greenlees constructed a public …
Constructing patient–psychiatrist relations in psychiatric hospitals: The role of space and personal action
This essay investigates the role of space and personal action in the construction of patient–psychiatrist relations at psychiatric hospitals. In order to explore such a theme, the writings of R.D. Laing prove to be salutary. This is namely accredited to Laing's tenet that the staff and patients of a psychiatric hospital are institutionalised by both physical structures and personal action. A central approach taken in this essay is to explore Lain…
People with intellectual disability at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum: Humanizing Photographs, Stories and Narratives From the Casebooks, 1890-1920
In the medical literature of South Africa in the early twentieth century, Dr Thomas Duncan Greenlees published a dehumanized portrayal of people with intellectual disability (PWID) who were institutionalized at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum. To restore the humanity of the institutionalized patients, the asylum's casebooks provide a valuable resource. To this end, the article investigates the casebook entries and photographs to explore the humani…
Beyond a clinical narrative: Casebook photographs from the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, c. 1890s
In this article, I argue that casebook photographs of the mentally ill can potentially move beyond a record of a clinical case, to bring into view an understanding of patients as individual subjects. My argument is based on an exploration of three selected photographs from the casebooks of the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, circa 1890s. Unlike the standard trope of casebook photographs – uniform mugshots that are archetypal images of classification,…
Engendered Representations: Exploring Sexuality through Symbols and Myths
This article reflects the findings of a project that was conducted by the Institute for Women s and Gender Studies at the University of Pretoria. In particular, the project sought to dialogue with religious and cultural leaders on the taboos, myths and misconceptions of human sexuality.The article provides an analysis of the symbols and myths of sexuality that were presented by these leaders.These symbols and myths were demystif ed to reveal thei…
Constructing patient–psychiatrist relations in psychiatric hospitals: The role of space and personal action
This essay investigates the role of space and personal action in the construction of patient–psychiatrist relations at psychiatric hospitals. In order to explore such a theme, the writings of R.D. Laing prove to be salutary. This is namely accredited to Laing's tenet that the staff and patients of a psychiatric hospital are institutionalised by both physical structures and personal action. A central approach taken in this essay is to explore Lain…
The influence of moral therapy on the landscape design of lunatic asylums built in the nineteenth century
There is a need to diminish the dominance of the panopticon as a model for investigating the design of nineteenth-century lunatic asylums. In particular, this need is justified by a number of theorists who argue that the ‘panopticon principles’ of observation and seclusion were not significant tenets of asylum design and visual culture. Instead, there was an emphasis on deliberately overcoming such aspects in favour of bringing patients together …
Unisa ‘Staff/Stuff’ Art Exhibition
The Unisa 'Staff/Stuff' Art Exhibition took place from 19 June to 6 July 2012 at the new premises of the Unisa Art Gallery in the Kgorong building. The exhibition commendably showcased the fine artists associated with Unisa's Department of Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology. The artists included, amongst others, Lisa Allen, Celia de Villiers, Frikkie Eksteen, Lawrence Lemaoana, Nathani Lüneburg, Gwen Miller, Bongani Mkhonza, Justice Mokoena,…
Off the Beaten Path: Violence, Women and Art
Over several years of lecturing in courses on gender studies, feminism and sexuality, I am always astounded by students' responses to the lectures. In general, the students share a postfeminist sentiment towards the lectures (Gill 2007). The responses from the male students follow the standard 'crisis of masculinity' rhetoric in which feminism is blamed for the problems, pains and quandaries of contemporary living. However, even more perturbing i…
Photographs from the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, South Africa, 1890-1907
This essay investigates photographs taken at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum during the superintendence of Dr Thomas Duncan Greenlees, from 1890 to 1907. It examines two specific sets of photographs: first, the photographs taken for public consumption, and, second, the casebook photographs of the patients. I argue that the photographs produced for public consumption ascribe to the broader public image of the asylum. Greenlees constructed a public …
Beyond a clinical narrative: Casebook photographs from the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, c. 1890s
In this article, I argue that casebook photographs of the mentally ill can potentially move beyond a record of a clinical case, to bring into view an understanding of patients as individual subjects. My argument is based on an exploration of three selected photographs from the casebooks of the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, circa 1890s. Unlike the standard trope of casebook photographs – uniform mugshots that are archetypal images of classification,…
Battleground
Michael Godby has over several decades published an extensive array of journal articles and curated exhibitions that have contributed significantly to the debates and discourses of South African art and photography. Battleground is a testament to Godby’s fluent mastery of the history, discourses and art of colonial South Africa
The life stories and experiences of the children admitted to the Institute for Imbecile Children from 1895 to 1913
The article contributes a positive narrative to the identity and the history of South African children with intellectual disability living in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
Tales of Female Sexuality and Scandal: Lauren Beukes’s “Princess” and Archived Asylum Texts
In the short story “Princess” (Slipping: Stories, Essays and Other Writing. San Francisco: Tachyon, 2016), Lauren Beukes presents a tale of a princess who discovers her clitoris. Subsequent to this discovery, the princess's sexuality rapidly develops to encompass the pleasures derived from autoeroticism, as well as the sexual acts performed by her handmaid. Yet, the princess's sexual pleasure is only one part of the story. The other part is how s…
Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer, School Photos in Liquid Time: Reframing Difference
Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer, School Photos in Liquid Time: Reframing Difference (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2020), 264 pp, ISBN 978-0295746548. In the path-breaking book School Photos in Liquid Time, Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer provide a novel study of school photographs. Unlike family photo albums and archived photographic records, school photographs have received minimal scholarly interest (p. 26). To this end, the book is…
The Racialised Diet Scales of Transvaal Prisons: Chinese and Indian Prisoner Resistance, 1901–1911
This article commences with an exploration of how the diet scales of the Transvaal \nprisons were underpinned by racial discrimination from 1901 to 1911: people of \ncolour received smaller varieties and quantities of food than white prisoners. To \nhighlight how the racialised diet scales were implemented as a punitive measure, \nthe article provides a discussion of how Chinese prisoners were placed on restricted \ndiets to make their imprisonme…
People with intellectual disability at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum: Humanizing Photographs, Stories and Narratives From the Casebooks, 1890-1920
In the medical literature of South Africa in the early twentieth century, Dr Thomas Duncan Greenlees published a dehumanized portrayal of people with intellectual disability (PWID) who were institutionalized at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum. To restore the humanity of the institutionalized patients, the asylum's casebooks provide a valuable resource. To this end, the article investigates the casebook entries and photographs to explore the humani…
Male Patients Communicating Restored Mental Health by Their Facial Expressions and Gentlemanly Persona at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, 1890–1907
During the medical superintendence of Dr Thomas Duncan Greenlees at the Grahamstown Lunatic Asylum, from 1890 to 1907, he was watchful of his patients’ appearances, facial expressions and conduct. Of particular interest, Greenlees would closely monitor the patients’ faces to identify if there were any involuntary expressions that were indicators of underlying emotional unease or mental distress. Greenlees thus regarded involuntary facial expressi…
Remembering the patients on the sesquicentennial anniversary of the Fort England Psychiatric Hospital
In 2025, the Fort England Psychiatric Hospital celebrates its 150th anniversary and this marks it as the oldest South African psychiatric facility that is still in use today. Over its many years of existence, the hospital’s history and heritage has been synonymous with the careers of the appointed medical superintendents. Thus, the dominant heritage discourse of the hospital commemorates the achievements of the medical superintendents, but what i…
Psychology (10 works) · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices (9 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Art (5 works) · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes (5 works) · Lunatic (5 works) · History (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Medical History and Research (4 works) · Philosophy (4 works)